Your View: Teach to the truth

Let me get this straight: New Bedford High School has been assessed as an underperforming school. And the state's and Superintendent Pia Durkin's chosen "solution" is to fire 50 percent of the faculty.

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By CATHERINE McLAUGHLIN

southcoasttoday.com

By CATHERINE McLAUGHLIN

Posted Jan. 27, 2014 at 12:01 AM

By CATHERINE McLAUGHLIN

Posted Jan. 27, 2014 at 12:01 AM

» Social News

Let me get this straight: New Bedford High School has been assessed as an underperforming school. And the state's and Superintendent Pia Durkin's chosen "solution" is to fire 50 percent of the faculty.

Have I fallen through the rabbit hole? Do I see Cheshire cat-like grins in the shadows? It takes my breath away. I have news for the assessors and Dr. Durkin: They may as well fire 100 percent, as the best and the brightest of teachers cannot turn NBHS around. Why? Because that is not where the problem lies.

There are complex issues underlying the problems of underperforming schools. One fundamental issue is the deep pocket of poverty in the community. There is a direct correlation between poverty and low test scores. If we continue to ignore the endemic problems caused by poverty, we cannot expect these schools to perform on a par with, say, Newton or Wellesley. This is not a level playing field.

Check out, for example, the enormous rates of absenteeism among poor students, on the order of 50 percent or greater. You cannot teach students who aren't there. And while you're at it, check out the problems many of these children have to deal with, from absent parents to parents who are abusive, drunk, high or simply do not care. Check out the good parents who care deeply but are so overwhelmed by the struggle to survive that they cannot provide academic support for their children. And check out students with behavioral problems who are completely disruptive in class, who ridicule all authority, who hold their teachers in contempt. This is where all these problems show their face: in the classroom, where teachers struggle to deal with them. But teachers are limited in what they can do. Still, they do try, against all odds, to make a difference in their students' lives. Such things are not measured by the assessors.

A second issue is that students from all levels of the economy are being failed by a system set up to cater to an ideal, where teachers are forced to teach to a myth rather than a reality. NBHS's self-proclaimed mission is "to prepare 100 percent of students for college." What is wrong with this? Students are all across the academic spectrum, and this mission shuts out all other possibilities. At NBHS, all students are forced into honors or college courses, in the mistaken belief that if they have brilliant teachers and an extended school day, they will rise to the challenge. This is far from true, and many students are set up for failure at the outset, despite the best efforts of hard-working, dedicated teachers. College is not the solution for everyone. We need to focus on and develop and promote students' individual talents that lie elsewhere; to teach to their strengths, bolstering their confidence and teaching to their full capacity. As it stands, the curriculum is too narrow for such a broad range of students and interests.

In math, for example, students must take Honors or College Geometry. There should be other levels where they can learn the geometry they will need to survive in the real world. This is not "dumbing down." These courses should be as rigorous as the other two options. But the students will learn differently, and for a different purpose. The real shame is to pretend these students don't exist, to leave them no option but discouragement and failure.

Until the problems of poverty are addressed in a meaningful way, and until we develop programs aimed more precisely and realistically at the needs of all students, nothing is likely to turn around. Certainly firing the very adults who have dedicated their lives to teaching these children is a specious decision at best, a powerplay designed to humiliate. Yes, they may "re-apply" for their jobs. But why should they have to? Why fire them in the first place?

This decision is going to cause chaos and destroy morale. A poor solution is not better than no solution at all. Instead, re-vamp 50 percent of the curriculum. You may well find that that brings about a more substantive change.

Dr. Durkin and the School Committee must be made aware of the problems these teachers face on the job. Then, and only then, can plans for the future of NBHS be formulated. Faculty and administrators must work against polarization. They must act as reasonable adults with a common cause: to educate all our children and mold them into compassionate and productive members of society. The stakes could not be higher.